


Burdensome

by Avanalae



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Illnesses, Swearing, poor self-care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 18:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8678983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avanalae/pseuds/Avanalae
Summary: Tim is completely incapable of taking care of himself. Or: Tim can't ask for help for shit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY. SO. THIS IS CRAZY, GUYS. I was going through the JayTim tag and found this post by souliebird.
> 
> “Imagine Tim getting an infection and his lack of a spleen causes it to get so much worse and he won’t tell anyone. And he pretends to be out of the country so no one will notice he how sick he is, until someone happens to be patrolling by his apartment one night and sees the lights are on inside.”
> 
> Idk what happened but I decided to write and it got out of my control. I believe this is the longest fic I have posted in ages. I’m just stunned! I don’t know what happened but it’s amazing.
> 
> So… HERE. *waves arms around* HAVE THIS.
> 
> Originally posted May 2015.

Tim rubs at his chest, trying to sooth the stinging inside it. He takes a slow, deep breath, trying to assess his condition after that last bout of coughing.

“Ugh…” he sighs. It’s probably the flu or something similar. “This is troublesome. I’ll need to be careful at tomorrow’s meeting.”

It probably was, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

__

Three weeks later and he hasn’t gotten any better.

He takes another raspy breath.

He’s so damn tired. He yawns and the deep inhale triggers another cough.

Minutes later he grabs his most recent constant companion, a water bottle. A few sips later he feels up to looking back to his computer.

Work wasn’t going to let up just because he was sick. He has too many things to do to even consider taking a break.

He did know some of his limits, though. He’d only been messaging his contacts through emails and instant messages.

He sniffs and wipes at his forehead, coming away with more sweat. Why was it so hot in here? He glances at the thermostat and… ugh. He shouldn’t be this warm.

“Anyway,” Tim rasps, “I need to finish this finance report.”

Tim blinks, trying to bring the screen back into focus.

How troublesome.

__

Another week passes and he’s finally succumbed to extreme measures.

What? Going to the hospital? Don’t be ridiculous.

He doesn’t want anyone to worry about him and that would just be a trouble to the others.

Tim had contacted Bruce saying he’d gone overseas to take care of some Batman Inc. business. He over course made sure to take every measure possible to cover every angle to make it seem like he was somewhere he wasn’t. He was taking care of business, after all. He just… was at home.

It’s not like he was going to be found out. He’s far too smart to leave any loose ends and it wasn’t like he was leaving his house.

He’d bulk-ordered quite a few things; including cough drops, cough syrup, cup noodles, tissues, Gatorade, and such.

It had been the flu, Tim was sure. But something had happened and now he had what was probably pneumonia.

Which was fine. He was fine. Surely if he kept this up he’d get better. He was hydrating, resting (kind of), taking medication, resting (not really), eating, and… he blinks.

What was he doing, again?

He takes another sip of juice, wincing at the sting of his throat.

His laptop is… Tim looks around. He could have sworn he’d just been using it. He leans over to try and look for it under the bed but the sudden compression of his chest brings another coughing fit.

A bit later, he comes out of the pain-filled haze and finds out that he’s on the floor.

Oh, there’s his laptop.

Time to get back to work.

__

Jason grunted, dodging away from Dick once again. How annoying.

“I can’t believe he left without even coming to say goodbye!” Dick whines. He’d been pouting ever since they found out Drake had left for wherever for business.

He’d been unbearably clingy ever since. Damian had somehow managed to lock the man out of his room which just upset Dick more.

“Maybe he just wanted to avoid your annoying ass,” Jason huffed.

Dick gave a little cry of outrage, “My ass isn’t annoying! I’ll have you know it’s gorgeous!”

Jason stared at him with a heavily depreciating look.

Dick pouts.

Jason grunts and heads for the door.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I have shit to do, Goldie, fuck off.”

“Aw,” Dick huffed, skipping after him, “Will you be patrolling tonight?”

“I thought you had sorted out the Replacement’s patrol route.”

“Well, yeah, Steph is taking it over for now.” Dick pouts, “I was just wondering. You hardly ever come around. I wouldn’t bug you so much if I saw you more often.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.”

“Ugh,” Dick whines, “You used to be so cute, why did you have to become such a brat?”

Jason didn’t bother to deign him with a response and headed for his motorbike, “See you later, Dickiebird.”

__

To be honest, Jason was kind of curious about what the Pretender was up to. They were in the middle of a job together, and while Tim still kept in contact via messages, they seemed a bit… off.

He didn’t really want to work with the replacement but the asshole had a knack for being an informant almost on par with Oracle. They’d been working on the same job and when they found out, Drake managed to convince him to work together.

As much as he hated the brat, he did good work.

And he wasn’t fucking blind. Something was up. They’d corresponded enough that he’d see any changes and in the last few messages he’d seemed… distracted. Not to mention that the last message he received was a few days ago.

He wasn’t worried. Why would he worry about the replacement?

He was curious, though.

So, when he’d reached a bit of a quiet slump in his patrol, he figured he’d might as well swing by Tim’s apartment.

All seemed well, until he reached the back of the building. There was a light on.

He came to a stop and crouched down. What the fuck?

A bit later after having seen no shadows moving around, he figured he’d go and see if the brat and left a lamp on or something.

Sneaking closer he took in outside. It certainly looked like he hadn’t been here for at least a week, but…

Jason frowns and looks in the window. There was a floor lamp on, but also the television. It was on a news channel. Surely the idiot wouldn’t leave his TV on.

Looking closer, there’s a huge mess inside.

Blankets are scattered across the sofa and the coffee table is scattered with empty cups of ramen, water bottles, and tissue boxes. There were used tissues everywhere, coming from an over-flowing trash bin in the corner of the room.

The fuck?

Then the mass of blankets on the couch _moves_.

He doesn’t jump. Really.

Out of the blankets comes a hand that quickly snatches a tissue before burrowing back in.

Jason frowns. Is that…?

He moves closer and listens harder.

Coughing. A lovely wet hacking noise.

Moments pass and then utter stillness. Another minute and the crumpled tissue is thrown from the blankets in the general direction of the trash, hardly flying even two feet away.

Well now.

Jason chuckles softly.

Looks like the replacement pulled a fast one over the big bad Bat.

__

It takes a lot less time than it probably should have to get into the replacement’s apartment.

There are empty shipping boxes by the door and the mess he saw in that room was extended through pretty much the entire place. He sneers and nudges a few used tissues aside with the tip of his boot.

Jason takes a good long look around before going to find the other man. This was the first time he’d been in the building, after all. You can’t blame him for being curious.

He heads towards where he’s pretty sure the pretender is.

When he enters the room the only part of Tim he sees is the arm hanging down out of the blankets, hand nearly resting on the floor. It doesn’t even seem to twitch when Jason steps closer.

He’s definitely not worried.

He hears quiet, raspy breaths when he steps up to the couch.

Reaching out, Jason hesitates before pulling back the blankets.

The person revealed is… not the replacement. It couldn’t be.

Sickly pale skin, deep shadows under his eyes, and a very worrying shallow, gasping breathing.

Then hazy blue eyes blink ever so slowly at him.

He releases the merest whisper of a breath and Jason leans closer so as to not miss it.

“Jay…”

A rattling breath.

“What the fuck, Pretender…” Jason takes in the sight of the blatantly _sick_ man before him. “Fucking shit!”

He runs a hand through his hair, “I can’t believe this.”

Tim closes his eyes and wheezes, “S’ry..”

“Ugh, fuck.” Jason rubs his face, “I need to call Alfred or-“

A slight tug on his jacket makes him look down.

“Nnh. D’hn… W’rry…”

“If I leave you alone, Pretender, I will probably be blamed for your death and I do not want Daddybats on my tail more than he already is.” Jason growls, “What the fuck is even wrong with you? You look near death.”

Tim doesn’t say anything, his eyes closed but his hand still weakly gripping the corner of Jason’s jacket.

“Ugh, you fucker,” Jason groans. What to do… What to do…

He runs a hand over his face as he looks around the room.

Jason heaves a great sigh.

__

“Ugh, you gross fuck.” Jason tosses another garbage bag next to the door and continues to grumble about the mess.

He was so going to hold this over the pretender’s head forever. Even after he pays him back for the antibiotics that he totally didn’t steal.

“Why am I doing this?” he grumbles, but continues to heat up the chicken noodle soup anyway.

He’d wrestled the smaller man into bed and shot him full of antibiotics and painkillers. Then he tackled the mess of a home. At least there weren’t any of those gross sick messes. He definitely would not have stuck around with that.

Apparently the fucker had pneumonia and didn’t go get it treated. If it wasn’t so damn stupid he’d be impressed by the pretender’s stubbornness.

Jason spoons out the soup into a bowl and places it on a tray along with some crackers and a glass of juice. He grabs another tissue box, as well, before carrying the tray to the bedroom.

“Oi, Pretender, time to eat.” He doesn’t get much of a reaction, but he did see his eyes flutter a bit. So he’s probably awake. He sets the tray on the bedside table and grabs some pillows. He sticks them behind the reclining man to bring him into a sitting position.

“Mhn…”

“Yeah, yeah, you need to eat.” He sits down next to the miserable man and picks up the bowl of soup. “Say ah, brat.”

The stubborn man he’d come to know was definitely gone. Tim opened his mouth with no hesitation and let out a raspy little “hahh” noise, letting himself be fed.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this for you, of all people…” Jason grumbles when they’re halfway through the soup.

Tim’s eyes droop a little and his mouth closes.

Jason scowls. He nudges pink lips with the spoon, but he doesn’t open his mouth.

“Come on, pretender, you need to eat.”

He nearly growls when Tim doesn’t respond. He usually had a harder time trying to get the man to react to his taunts but of course he had to do it now.

“Okay, sorry. I didn’t mean it. Now eat the fucking soup.”

He does open his mouth, but Tim doesn’t raise his eyes again.

__

He doesn’t care about the replacement’s feelings.

Really.

Jason sneers and scrubs the dishes harshly.

_

Several days had passed and Tim was getting better. When Jason let himself into the theater with the key that he’d grabbed on the first day, he found Tim sitting on the couch, watching TV. He looked miserable, but he was sitting up. He even had a glass of juice in his hands.

Jason set down the keys and went to start some food. He’d learned a lot about the younger man these last few days. For instance, Tim doesn’t know how to fucking cook. How that’s possible, Jason doesn’t know. So he puts some bread in the toaster and starts some eggs.

He listens vaguely to the noise coming from the TV room. It doesn’t sound like the news. A movie, maybe?

Once the food is done, he fills two plates and puts them on a tray before taking them to the room Tim’s in so they can both eat.

He glances at the TV when he steps inside and hesitates.

Lilo and Stitch.

That little fucker.

He sets the tray down loudly, making Tim flinch and blink up at him.

Jason frowns. “Eat.”

They eat.

__

“Stitch… reminds me of Damian.”

Tim’s words are quiet, wheezy. Jason almost missed them.

He snorts, “Yeah, I can see it. A fucking hellspawn whose goal is to destroy everything. Does that make Dick, Lilo?”

There’s a little nasally huff and Tim actually grins a bit. “Bruce… is Nani… then.”

Jason barks out a laugh, “Fuck, I can just imagine it.” He waves a hand. “And Alfred is Cobra Bubbles, because you just know he’s behind sorting all the shit out. Plus he’s a badass.”

“Very true.” Tim gives a whispery giggle and they laugh together for a bit before returning their attention to the movie.

Minutes pass and Jason hears the sick man next to him mutter sadly, “What about us?”

Jason doesn’t respond for a while. He doesn’t really know how to, but he thinks about it.

“I dunno, Jumba and Pleakley?” He says eventually.

When Tim doesn’t say anything, he continues.

“You’re Pleakley, though, you tiny nerd. Plus, Jumba is much cooler, so of course that would be me.” Jason scratches the back of his neck, thinking fast. “And you look better in a dress.”

Tim’s fingers pluck at the threads of the blanket and…

“The fuck? Is your fever going up again?” His hand goes to his forehead, but it gets weakly swatted away.

“N-No…” Tim rasps.

“Ooo,” Jason grins, “Are you embarrassed, then?” He gets a frown and his grin gets wider. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about, _Caroline._ ”

Tim hisses, “How did you-?”

“Oh, I’ve seen the pictures. Don’t you know? Alfred keeps albums.” He winks mockingly, “It’s hilarious how big your boobs were for how teeny you are.”

Jason cackles while Tim swats at him, face bright red.

__

The more Tim’s throat heals, the more they talk. And they talk about a lot. Food, business, friends… Family.

Sometimes Jason forgets to go back to one of his safe houses and will crash on the spare bed for the night.

Tim gets better and better and at some point…

__

“I haven’t heard you cough in a while.”

Tim hums, “Yeah, I feel much clearer now.”

“That’s good.”

Then there’s silence while they focus on their lunch.

Maybe the pretender… Jason huffs and bites down hard on his fork. Tim blinks up at him.

Jason looks down.

Tim looks down.

God, this is awkward.

If Tim’s all better, then there’s no reason for Jason to continue hanging around, is there?

He frowns around his fork.

If he had to be completely honest, perhaps he’d gotten - maybe just a little - fond of the kid. But only a little!

Jason grunts and looks up at Tim, who’s quietly poking his food around his plate.

“Oi, I’m gonna need your help with this case I’ve got, once you’re all better.”

He has to avert his eyes from the bright smile that follows.


End file.
